Workshop 2014

Letterpress printing: modular alphabets
tutors: Anonima Impressori
23-25 May 2014

Letterpress typography is an old printing technique used to produce texts and images. The typographical page or composition is a gathering of elements in proportional relationship, where printed letters – the wood types – and white spaces – margins and leadings – are real objects that can be measured in typographic points: they fill the composition and make it a compact geometry, a relief printing stackable block.
This Anonima Impressori workshop is aimed at graphic designers. Based on the principles of letterpress printing, it especially focuses on one of its peculiarities: modularity.
The starting point Anonima Impressori suggests for this journey is represented by groundbreaking design projects developed by historic avant-garde movements: modular alphabets.
Based on letter geometry, these particular alphabets break the letter shape into generic sub-shapes, transforming them into modular tiles that can be composed and decomposed to create acknowledged signs or abstract geometries.
After a brief introduction about letterpress printing, a selection of modular alphabets and wood and lead ornaments – produced by italian foundries in the early 1930s and now part of Anonima Impressori’s collection of recovered types – will be at participants’ disposal.
Participants will be asked to employ their experience while using the given materials, in order to combine contemporary design habits and views with elements that come straight from the first part of the twentieth century.
During the workshop, people will experience the different possibilities of the relief printing technique: peculiarities, pressure, surfaces, textures, overprint effects of spot colours; by combining the design process with a hands-on approach.
The workshop is aimed at experienced graphic designers.
A good knowledge and use of the Adobe Suite softwares can help while working at the design project, but are not mandatory.
It is also possible to use personal laptops or digital cameras.
Participants will be given an introductory brochure with the actual prints of the materials in use.

Anonima Impressori – Officina grafica e stampa d’arte is a reality where the paths of MEAT – Graphic designers collective and Attila Marcel merge to give new and modern interpretations to classical tecniques. A letterpress and chalcography print facility.

A creative graphic design studio. More than 500 wooden and lead letterpress alphabets. Inks and ideas. A place where design and research merge with the strength and warmth of letterpress printing. A current and never granted union.
Luca Lattuga: Collezionista di caratteri tipografici e progettista visivo
Roberto Malpensa: Scriber e Progettista visivo
Massimo Pastore: Progettista Visivo
Veronica Bassini: Stampatore

www.anonimaimpressori.it

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Woodcut reduction
tutor: Umberto Giovannini
30 May – 1 June 2014

The woodcut reduction is one of the most popular techniques both for the European and Japanese woodcut masters, because it is the woodcut technique which allows a playful and inventive approach step by step.
The name “reduction” comes from the working process: a woodblock is carved and printed in a number of copies. The same block continues to be carved and printed in register on the same sheet, with a different color, step by step, color after color, until the block is exhausted.
This technique is wonderful to create tonal effects, such as landscapes and figures, to obtain very soft gradations of chiaroscuro.
This technique is wonderful to create tonal effects such as landscapes and figures to obtain very soft gradations of chiaroscuro.
The the workshop will include invention of the drawing for reduction, its transposition to the block, and creation of the intaglio. Attendees will be taught to use a special body posture intaglio technique, in order to develop high precision and speed. Finally, will be taught the basic techniques of inking and printing, specific for this technique.
In reduction technique is very important the use of registration: in this workshop will be used double Kento derived from the Japanese printing technique.

Umberto Giovannini is a multidisciplinary artist with a specific interest in printmaking. He has a passion for woodcut, for which he has developed some personal intaglio and printing techniques. Founder member of VACA and member of the East London Printmakers, he is the director of the Opificio della Rosa a low environmental impact graphic centre. He combines his personal work as an artist, his studies and research, with his teaching career. At present, he is Associate Lecturer at the Central Saint Martins College of Art, University of the Arts London.
www.umbertogiovannini.it

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Blue etching: non toxic printmaking
tutors: Fabiola Mercandetti and Marco Innocenzi
22-27 July 2014

⁃ introduction to the use of etching inks made from oils and natural pigments with no toxic additive, and also of the Charbonnel Aquawash inks with water washable emulsified oils

⁃ overview of non toxic methods and products for cleaning the plates with vegetable oils instead of traditional solvents.
A new technique will be presented every day: first we will explain the method, then will show the process. After that, each participant will create his/her own plate.

Day 1
historical-practical introduction to non toxic processes; presentation of the etching on zinc technique with acrylic solutions which substitute the traditional bitumen; different methods (brush, casting) and use of materials; demonstration of the process, plate preparation, working, etching and printing.
Day 2
soft ground on zinc using roller and pastel; process demonstration, plate preparation, working, etching and printing.
Day 3
Aquatint on zinc using acrylic varnish spray (stencil method, stickers, reserve); process demonstration, plate preparation, working, etching and printing.
Day 4
Alternative aquatint (direct marking, shades, additive method), open bite; process demonstration, plate preparation, working, etching and printing.
Days 5-6
participants will work on their own projects using the non toxic techniques; plate preparation and working; etching: copper sulfate mordant in its different preparations and dilutions; the copper sulfate is a non toxic mordant which substitutes the highly toxic nitric acid; inking and printing of the plates.

Fabiola Mercandetti and Marco Innocenzi are burinists and engravers, and they promote the art of engraving with a special historical interest in technique development. Fabiola Mercandetti has written an essay on the history of burin intaglio technique from its origin to the twentieth century and she holds engraving courses at the Associazione Cattolica Operaia Tiberina di Roma.
Marco Innocenzi has specialized in the restoration of decorative schemes, with a deep knowledge colours and antique techniques.
They are interested in and have worked with copper sulfate, non toxic materials and methods since 2005. They are the curators of the website www.occhiodellincisore.com.

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Linocut and Letterpress for Illustration
tutor: Nick Morley
31 July – 5 August 2014

In this workshop you will create an artists’ book, using a combination of linocut illustrations and letterpress text to explore a narrative of your choice. You will develop your linocutting and letterpress skills while discovering how illustrations and text can be combined in innovative ways. First you will be given guidance to plan the format and layout of your book by making a ‘dummy’. Then you will be shown how to use the unique qualities of linocut to create a range of illustrations using different visual effects. The illustrations will be combined with text using wooden letterpress blocks in a wide range of sizes and typefaces. You will be encouraged to experiment with text and image placement to create non-traditional solutions to story-telling.
The workshop will cover the following techniques:
– Carving and mark-making on linoleum using a range of tools
– Inking and printing to create a range of effects
– Controlling colour, texture and transparency of ink in printing
– Basic bookbinding
Participants will need to bring along a narrative to work from. This could be a novel, short story, poem, play, song or something similar. By the end of the workshop you will have produced a small edition of your book to take home.

Nick Morley is an artist and illustrator who specialises in linocut. He has more than ten years of printmaking experience and has taught workshops at East London Printmakers since 2006. He has illustrated book covers for Penguin, Faber & Faber and Random House and he also makes his own books.
www.nickmorley.co.uk

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Woodcut and letterpress Tarots
tutor: Umberto Giovannini
7-16 August 2014

This is a 10-day experimental workshop who aims to create a new set of Major Arcana of the tarot, through the technique of colour woodcut and letterpress.
The idea is a collaborative project for a group of 8 students and the tutor: a playful approach, from drawing to the creation, sharing skills and ideas. The aim is to create a folder with the 22 cards.
The project is designed by the tutor, Umberto Giovannini, who has deeply studied the iconography of tarot cards working at his woodcut series Tarocchi di Sigismondo (http://www.umbertogiovannini.it/inglese/tarot-uk2.html).
To each participant will be given the skill to create a series of images starting from a given iconography, through an approach of creative sharing.
In addition, to each participant will be given the skill to realize a colour woodcut, from drawing to print, and a basic knowledge of the use of movable type and typesetting. N.B. The Opificio della Rosa has a vast collection of movable types in wood and metal, but their use, in this workshop, will not be purely typographic: the letters will be used in a creative way as part of the illustration.
Timetable
1 day
Introduction: we will approach the history of woodcut tarot cards, starting from the Renaissance to the Marseille Tarot up to the contemporary variations. This journey into the world of tarot cards will be the starting point for an investigation into the history of woodcut.
Practical demonstration of the techniques of colour woodcut: drawing for the woodcut, carving techniques, inking and printing, register techniques.
Introduction to the world of letterpress: from the techniques of composition up to printing with movable type (the focus will be on the following days of the laboratory).
2 day
Collective design of the 22 cards: how do you think a series of individual images which go to constitute a homogeneous body. We will work about iconography, colours, and on the integration of letterpress.
3-4-5-6-7 day
Realization of woodcuts and letterpress compositions. The work will be carried out and coordinated through moments of collective and personal work.
8-9-10 day
Realization of editions. An introductory note about the professional way to edition prints in a studio with the division of roles: managing inks, paper, etc.

Each participant will have, at the end of the workshop, his folder with the 22 Major Arcana of the Tarot.

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Burin on copper 2: advanced level
tutor: Jürgen Czaschka
28 August – 1 September 2014

This course, only for those who have practice in copper engraving techniques, is a unique chance to draw on the wealth of artistic experience that Czaschka has fine-tuned in more than thirty years of studying and experimenting with burin technique, of which he possesses unparalleled knowledge, from the classic to contemporary developments. A preliminary phase deals with preparation of the plate and methods of sharpening the tools. The central part of the course involves experimentation with different techniques of burin engraving on copper: morphology of the sign; the relationship between heavy and light signs; the rhythmicity of the hatching and the intersecting undulations of 16th century anatomy engravings; the synthetic linear sign. The course concludes with the final phase of inking, cleaning and printing the matrix.

Born in Vienna, Jürgen Czaschka is unanimously acknowledged as one of the most extraordinary living burin artists. He got his artistic training in Berlin at the end of the 70’s and has created works of extraordinary technical expertise and overwhelming expressive force that make him an undisputed master of this art.

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Blue etching: non toxic printmaking on aluminium
tutors: Fabiola Mercandetti and Marco Innocenzi
10-12 October 2014

This course aims to provide new solutions for toxic printmaking materials through the use of non toxic materials and methods. It will also be an occasion to find new ways of expressing yourself because etching is a constantly changing technique and language, which continuously develops new methods and creative possibilities.
Antique books already contained some precautions concerning the use of etching materials, but it was only in the Eighties that, due to a greater awareness of solvent and acid toxic effect, a special attention for people’s health and safety developed. This was the basis for further development in the following years, to refine new non toxic etching methods.
These methods, which also use antique recipes, have contributed in making etching more eco-friendly, leading to a greater interest worldwide, especially by those who do not have a traditional printmaking studio available, who can now etch anywhere without any risk, like many other art techniques.
This 3-day course will start with a historical-theoretical introduction to non toxic etching, dealing mainly with the following aspects:
–     overview of non toxic methods and on the “blue” mordant (copper sulfate), its characteristics, preparation and usage
–     instructions and demostration about recycling the spent bath and safer disposal of sulfate copper;
–     introduction to the use of etching inks without no toxic additive.
–     overview of non toxic methods and products for cleaning the plates with vegetable oils instead of traditional solvents.
Day 1
historical-practical introduction to non toxic processes; presentation of safer mordant (copper sulfate), characteristics of aluminum and working methods (painting method).
Demonstration of the process, plate preparation, working, etching and printing.
Day 2 – 3 :
– etching: copper sulfate mordant in its different preparations and dilutions; the copper sulfate is a non toxic mordant which substitutes the highly toxic nitric acid;
– inking and printing of the plates.